Good morning and welcome to October,

Dockworkers from Maine to Texas (including the terminal in South Boston) voted to strike early this morning.

A lengthy shutdown could cause shortages and price increases at big and small retailers and have an immediate impact on perishable imports including bananas and other produce.

J.P. Morgan estimated the strike could cost the economy up to $4.5 billion per day, with some of that recovered over time after normal operations resume.

A second soda disrupter locates along the Charles

Our region just nabbed a second disrupter in the carbonated drink sector.

The soft drink brand Culture Pop Soda is moving from Sudbury to Watertown.

They’re leasing 6,000 square feet of space at 64 Pleasant Street, the former Sasaki building along the Charles River that was redeveloped by Berkley Investments.

The company’s move to Watertown also makes our region something of a hub for innovative beverage companies. Spin Drift’s 20,000 SF headquarters is located just across the Charles at Bulfinch Co’s 55 Chapel Street in Newton.

Culture Pop was founded by Nantucket Nectars co-founder Tom First in 2020, with additional investments from former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.

Its sodas include juice, spices and live probiotics with no sweeteners, no stevia and no sugar other than the fruit juice and are sold in more than 10,000 retail stores nationwide.

About Culture Pop’s new Watertown home

As for Culture Pop’s new HQ, Berkley Investments originally envisioned the property as yet another Watertown lab facility. 

Instead, the historic mill building that once pioneered innovative breakthroughs in the paper, manufacturing, printing and laundry service industries, is attracting a mix of innovators.

Clean tech startup Via Separations signed a lease there for more than 50,000 square feet last year.  In May Gov. Maura Healey visited the location to launch her administration’s climate tech initiative.

Speaking of climate tech (and you know who and what)

Healey’s proposal to invest $1.3 billion over 10 years to establish the Bay State as a major climate tech hub is projected to generate $16.4 billion in economic activity – representing a 12-to-1 return on investment while creating 6,670 new jobs.

With a return like that, who would possibly oppose an initiative that’s also aligned to save the planet?

Alas, the climate tech initiative is part of Healey’s stalled economic development bill, which had been in limbo even before the Legislature ended formal sessions two months ago today.

That’s 61 days. But who’s counting?

The latest on the Newton and Needham state rep contests

Join my colleague Max Woolf at noon today for our virtual debate between the Democratic candidate Amy Sangiolo and the Republican candidate Vlad Yanovsky, competing for the open state rep. seat in Newton.

And here’s the video from last week’s debate between Democratic candidate Josh Tarsky and unenrolled candidate Bill Dermody in the very hot state rep contest representing Needham, Dover and part of Medfield.  (Tarsky and Dermody also face off Oct. 16 at Broadmeadow School in Needham.)

Also: Genevieve Morrison at BC Heights. has written a nice profile of presumptive Newton state Rep-elect Greg Schwartz.

Tuesday grab bag

• The Price Center in Newton has appointed Abby Parrilla as its new CEO to lead the center’s growth while preserving its small-community feel.
  
  
• The proprietors of Keyes Drugs in Auburndale and Union Pharmacy in Newton Centre, Newtonville and Needham are giving thumbs up to efforts by Congressman Jake Auchincloss to regulate “gouging abuses by the Pharmacy Benefits Managers— the middlemen of drug pricing.”  (Fig City News)
  
  
• Wild Willy's Burgers in Watertown is going to become Belle's Charbroiled Burgers & Ice Cream but the food and staff are not changing. A Facebook thread indicates that both the Wild Willy's name and the western theme will go away as part of an agreement with Wild Willy's in York. (Boston Restaurant Talk)
  
  
• Newton-based developer, The RMR Group,  has unveiled plans for a 40-story building with housing, hotel, and retail space near North Station. (Boston Globe)
  
  
• The Massachusetts Association for Mental Health recently presented William James College President Nick Covino with a Special Recognition Award for innovative behavioral health workforce development work at its annual Friend and Leader Award Dinner.  In addition Newton state Sen. Cynthia Stone Creem and retiring Reps. Ruth Balser and Kay Khan were presented Partner in Progress Awards
  
  
• Emma's Macarons on Moody Street in Waltham is no longer in business,
  
  
• One of Brookline’s four marijuana dispensaries has closed, just three years after it opened (Brookline News)
  
  
• Green Needham has created a Tap Map showing locations for refilling reusable water bottles. Needham businesses willing to welcome customers to refill their water bottles at their location can be added to the map here.
  
  
• Alt Wheels Fleet Day, an annual sustainable transportation event that brings together corporate and municipal fleet managers, is Oct. 7 at Four Points by Sheraton in Norwood. Register.
  
  
• The League of Women Voters of Newton will host a discussion on Ballot Question #2, regarding the elimination of the MCAS test as a graduation requirement, Mon. Oct 7 at 7 p.m. at the Newton Free Library. Details.
  
  
• Tickets for our big annual Fall Business Breakfast, Nov. 1 at the Newton Marriott, go on sale tomorrow.

Another housing project creates angst in Wellesley

Yet another multi-family housing project in Wellesley is facing an uncertain future after abutters — who for months seemed to be comfortable with a proposed 25-unit project at 6 Washington Court in Lower Falls — apparently decided they didn’t like it after all.

Developer Joe Hassell’s residential overlay rezoning request  (Article 16 on the Special Town meeting docket) went through several Planning Board hearings this summer without a whiff of opposition.

Things turned south at an Advisory Board meeting last week when abutters complained about all the usual things abutters complain about — traffic, school crowding and neighborhood character. (The building in the photo shows the current character.)

That lead to a 7-4 unfavorable Advisory recommendation, reports Bob Brown at the Swellesley Report.

Hassell tells us he’ll reduce the project to 21 units and triple the setbacks. It remains to be seen if that will satisfy the unsatisfied. (It didn’t work here.)

A second Hassell project (Article 17), at Walnut Park also in Lower Falls, has no residential abutters and received favorable reports from both boards. Even if both requests survive Town Meeting on Oct. 21 he’ll still need multiple approvals, traffic studies and more.

Columnists: Questions 2 and 5 may not do what they suggest

Finally today, two Boston Globe columnists have published worth-reading pieces about two of the five ballot questions before Massachusetts voters this fall.

• In “The MTA beckons voters with false claims on Question 2” Scot Lehigh calls to task the state’s largest teachers’ union for misleading statements about eliminating the MCAS graduation requirement.

  
  

• And in “The bid to boost restaurant wages could backfire” business columnist Larry Edelman worries Question 5 “isn’t fair to the workers whose paychecks are on the line.”

  
  

Our board of directors share both concerns and recommends a “no” vote on Question 2 and a “no” vote on Question 5.

As always, we value your feedback. 

That’s what you need to know for today — Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday —   unless you need to know what 15 units per acre looks like.

There will be no newsletter on Friday. Shana tova. And Let’s Go Mets.

Greg Reibman (he, him)

President & CEO

Charles River Regional Chamber

617.244.1688

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